Treehouse Designers Guide: Treehouses.com

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Majestree

The Majestree from Michael Garnier's Treehouses.com certainly lives up to its name.

Photo by: Image courtesy of Treehouses.com

Image courtesy of Treehouses.com

The Majestree from Michael Garnier's Treehouses.com certainly lives up to its name.

Michael Garnier is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on treehouse construction and a pioneer in the field, but he prefers to think of himself as an "in-tree-prenur." He went to school for engineering but "couldn’t' stay awake in the classes." He was drafted and eventually landed in Oregon where he helped start a free clinic as a special forces medic. He fell in love with the area and decided to start a bed and breakfast, but didn't have much luck until he decided to build treehouses his guests could stay in. "People thought I was crazy," he says. "But it worked." Today Garnier oversees 15 units in his "treesort," but still offers his construction, design and consultation part-time.

Based in:

Southwest Oregon

In the business since:

1990

Cost:

$25,000 and up

Most requested design:

The Treezebo

Specialty:

Durability. Garnier is the creator of the Garnier Limb, a widely used bolt that gives builders a place to bear the load of a treehouse on the tree.

Wow factor:

Garnier built a treehouse in a grove of redwoods in Marin County, California that is 25 feet off the ground and three stories high with a cupola, complete with birch bark wallpaper.

Project locations:

Garnier has built treehouses all over the country and beyond, and hopes to build a treehouse on every continent.

Fun fact:

Garnier claims that the highest concentration of treehouses in the world can be found at his "treesort," Out 'n' About, in southwestern Oregon.